Kelleher has previously self-published three books in the grit-lit genre through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform – Rotten to the Core,Rise and Fall and Heartless – notching up nearly 150,000 units, according to the author.

Amazon’s Thomas and Mercer imprint in the UK will publish her fourth title Bad Blood on 16th December 2014 after Kelleher struck with deal herself with Emilie Marneur, senior acquisitions editor at Amazon Publishing.

Kelleher told The Bookseller: “I met Emilie Marneur at a book launch for Mel Sherratt’s – Watching Over You. She was already familiar with my work, and asked me to send her a submission of my latest novel.” Kelleher continued: “Emilie and her team are fantastic, and the whole process is so different to self-publishing. I’m thoroughly enjoying every minute of it. I can’t wait to see the finished novel and get feedback from my readers. I feel that as an author I have had a lot more input and control over not only the deal but also the book itself, which for me is the most important thing.”

When asked if she was concerned about other retailers not stocking her title if it was published by rival retailer Amazon, Kelleher said: “No, I’m not concerned. Writing in the grit-lit genre, we are very lucky to have such a huge following of supportive readers. I’ve known readers to spend out on a new reading device in order to get a book that they particularly wanted that isn’t available on the platform that they usually buy from. If readers want a book, they will source it no matter who the stockist is.”